Imo PDP members exchange blows at party secretariat

It was a free-for-all yesterday at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Secretariat in Owerri when a faction of the party, led by Barr Nnamdi Anyaehie violently disrupted a meeting of the Caretaker Committee, led by Barrister Vitalis Okafor.

Okafor whose Caretaker Committee was inaugurated on the January 29, this year to pilot the affairs of the party for three months had hardly settled down to business with his members when the Nnamdi Anyaehie led executives stormed the secretariat and chased everybody away with all sorts of weapons.

Members of the warring factions who exchanged blows while the melee lasted were later dispersed by armed policemen manning the secretariat after which Anyaehie and his supporters drove away in a long convoy to an unknown destination.

Not only did scores sustain injuries as a result of the fracas, the police that were re-enforced later cordoned the premises.

Okafor who later addressed newsmen accused Barr Anyaehie of causing avoidable confusion within the party and scheming to perpetuate himself in office.

He stressed that the meeting was convened to brief members of the party on the latest development in respect of the legal battle between his committee and that of Nnamdi Anyaehie which was instituted by the latter.

He said that the tenure of Chief Anyaehie had since expired as pronounced by the Party’s National Executive Council (NEC) which subsequently installed his caretaker committee to preside over the affairs of the party for three months and wondered why he (Anyaehie) had refused to comply with this.